1. The date will be formally fixed on October 18 after readiness reviews across the launch centre, half-a-dozen international ground stations, tracking hub ISTRAC, the Indian Deep Space Network in Bangalore and the two ship-carrying-terminals that ISRO has deployed in the South Pacific, where the fourth and last stage of the launch will take place.

2. ISRO’s weather assessment gives it a 10-day clear time within the overall period of October 28–November 19

3. There is now a system moving in the South Pacific and ISRO has to monitor it. These are part of operational challenges.

4. The mission readiness review team and the Launch Authorisation Board are due to meet on October 17. The spacecraft will be put on the launcher on October 18 and another round of readiness checks will be done on the combined entity.

1. An 18-member team of top scientists and engineers from India's International Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is in the country to pave the way for India's first-ever satellite mission to the Red Planet later this month.

2. one ship, which would monitor the tracking of the satellite, was in Fiji while another would arrive on Saturday.

Does anyone know what's happening with the investigation into the prop leak from the 2nd stage of the GSLV whose launch was scrubbed recently? Since it's a common stage to both the GSLV and the PSLV, I'd have thought they would've wanted to rule out a manufacturing/design issue (and thereby green light the use of a whole batch of 2nd stage components) - before they go ahead and approve C-25.

Also, what's with the need for the tracking ships in the South Pacific? We've got a two week+ launch window, so we'll surely have the ability to loiter in the initial injected parking orbit for a fair number of revs, before the orbiter is tele-commanded to perform either the EBNs (expansion anybody?) or the TMI? Isn't the PSLV fully autonomous from launch to payload injection? Sure, it'd be nice to have unbroken, live telemetry - but bad weather which anchors the ships at port shouldn't be a showstopper suo motu.

Being able to monitor critical burns is crucial for understanding what went wrong if something does go wrong. There have been many failures where there was no monitoring during critical propulsion or landing manoeuvres, e.g., Fobos-Grunt, Beagle 2, Mars Observer, Mars Polar Lander and CONTOUR. This makes trying to find the cause of the failure very difficult. Even knowing simple things like the time of the failure and speed of the spacecraft can be of great benefit. If something does go wrong, knowing what went wrong allows you to make corrections for the next mission. India should be commended for putting in the extra effort for the additional monitoring in the Pacific Ocean.

Logged

Akin's Laws of Spacecraft Design #1: Engineering is done with numbers. Analysis without numbers is only an opinion.

Isro is buzzing with activity - not just for MOM but also for a slew of projects, scheduled for the next five years. Kumar says that a successful Mars mission will not only boost India's confidence but also open doors for next-generation technology which will help future space endeavours. After Mangalyaan, ISRO is planning Chandrayaan II which will have a rover to collect and analyze samples from the lunar surface. India is also planning to launch its first dedicated astronomy satellite - ASTROSAT - after which the ambitious Aditya project will come into action. The project intends to study Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) from L1, one of the Lagrangian points between Sun and Earth which will facilitate the craft's remaining at the same position with least effort, for the observation.

About manned space missions, Kumar says it would be the next logical step. "We are slowly building capacity for it and I hope it culminates at an opportune time. Our immediate goal is to put man in orbit (Lower Earth Orbit). The next one will be to prolong the mission and later to conduct space flights," he said.